Star Wars Hints the Force Robbed Anakin Skywalker of Free Will
In recent stories, Star Wars is subtly embracing one of the most mind-blowing possibilities of the Force, implying a dark truth about Anakin Skywalker's life. When George Lucas launched the prequel trilogy with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, he introduced a concept that took many viewers by surprise: the prophecy of the Chosen One, a being foretold long ago who is destined to bring balance to the Force. The prequel trilogy was never entirely clear what this meant - indeed, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith hinted the Jedi themselves had misinterpreted it. But the very existence of this prophecy nonetheless hinted at a dramatic change in the franchise.
The core question is whether the existence of the Force allows for free will. If Anakin Skywalker's fate could be accurately foretold millennia before it happened, then there is no free will - only the will of the Force. After all, for Anakin to play his role, so many other things needed to happen: the Sith needed to be driven back, with Darth Bane establishing the Rule of Two; the Republic had to expand, and then crumble; Qui-Gon Jinn had to stumble upon a young miracle child on the desert sands of Tatooine; the Clone Wars, the rise of Palpatine and even Order 66 had to be preordained. The clear implication is that the Force has a will, one that controls everything that happens in the galaxy. The (non-canon) Knights of the Old Republic 2 featured a Sith Lord who rebelled against this deterministic view, Darth Traya. "I hate the Force," she seethed. "I hate that it seems to have a will, that it would control us to achieve some measure of balance when countless lives are lost."
Ironically, George Lucas himself doesn't seem to have taken such a deterministic approach. His work implies he believed there is indeed such a thing as destiny, but also that there is still freedom to choose, as each person must decide whether to fulfill that destiny. However, Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The High Republic transmedia initiative seems to be wrestling with this idea in subtle but powerful ways.
One of the heroes of Star Wars: The High Republic is a Trandoshan Jedi named Sskeer, whose story has mostly been told in several comics by writer Cavan Scott. A powerful Jedi Master, Sskeer has found himself wrestling with a rare medical condition that is robbing him of his connection to the Force. Magrak Syndrome is unique to Trandoshans, an encephalopathic disease that leads to their experiencing surges of aggression, and the worsening of Sskeer's illness led to him gradually losing all access to the Force itself. It's likely the true source of the problem lies in Sskeer's refusal to give in to anger and aggression, which as a Jedi he believes are of the dark side; thus his mind is devoting all its effort to fighting off these impulses, and it has nothing left to focus on the Force.
Curiously, though, Sskeer's affliction quickly becomes of use. Star Wars: The High Republic has seen the Jedi of the High Republic Era go up against a group of space pirates called the Nihil, who have weaponized powerful Force predators called the Nameless. The mere presence of one of these creatures creates a horrific disturbance in the Force, with Jedi experiencing twisted visions and losing their ability to draw upon the Force. The Nihil unleashed seven Nameless on the Jedi's Starlight Beacon, but Sskeer's Magrak Syndrome meant he was immune to the Nameless' effect, and he apparently sacrificed himself to save many other Jedi - including his former apprentice, Keeve Trennis.
It is surely no coincidence that one of the most fearsome warriors among the Jedi lost his ability to draw upon the Force just before the Nihil unleashed monsters who turned a Jedi's sensitivity to the Force into a weapon to be used against them. This is clearly the will of the Force at work - but Sskeer's diagnosis with Magrak Syndrome came before the Nihil had even discovered the Nameless. It suggests the Force recognized a coming darkness and thus engineered a response to this before it came to pass. This aspect of the Cosmic Force appears to transcend time itself. Of course, this makes particular sense for a franchise which takes place across different time periods, with key, unchangeable events around which the rest of its stories unfold.
The example of Sskeer helps when it comes to interpreting the Chosen One, because it serves to remind viewers that, when it comes to the ways of the Force, time doesn't necessarily work in the normal way. Because the will of the Force seemingly transcends time itself, it is quite possible for the Force to effectively "foresee" a coming crisis and put its necessary response in place. Thus Palpatine's rise to power and the dominance of the dark side associated with the Imperial era likely prompted the Force to respond by weaving the Chosen One into place, born before the light of the Jedi was almost snuffed out but destined to rekindle it.
It's worth noting the prophecy of the Chosen One is actually very vague, affording a lot of wriggle-room for freedom of will. The full text was only revealed in Claudia Gray's 2019 novel Master & Apprentice, and it simply states that "A Chosen One shall come, born of no father, and through him will ultimate balance in the Force be restored." This means that the Chosen One will be the Force's agent of balance, and that he will ultimately conform to the will of the Force by bringing it about. It doesn't dictate whether Anakin Skywalker was meant to be a Jedi - had Qui-Gon Jinn lived, he would probably have been brought up apart from the Jedi Order. It doesn't even mean Anakin Skywalker had to fall to the dark side. But it does mean that, in the end, he was indeed destined to destroy the Sith, and so no matter what choices he made as Darth Vader - no matter how many Younglings he killed - he could never truly break the pull of the light side of the Force.
This suggests that while he had freedom of choice on the details, no matter what choices Anakin Skywalker made in his Star Wars story, they would always lead to the same ultimate destination. Of course, that's true in a meta sense - Anakin's fate was sealed by the original trilogy - but it's fascinating to see hints that this is also true within the franchise's own universe. As effective as this is in setting up threats and heroes in Star Wars lore, it does suggest that the Will of the Force is ultimately the only true arbiter of how things play out on a galactic scale, implying that while individual heroes and villains can still make choices, the larger destiny of Star Wars' Sith, Jedi, and key figures like Anakin Skywalker may well be predestined.